The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has dismissed both grounds of Motorola’s appeal against the UK government’s price ceiling for the Airwave Network access it provides to the emergency services.
Motorola claimed the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had made errors in assessing competition in the market and the profitability of its Airwave Network.
The CMA’s price ceiling will now be allowed to reduce the current price being paid by the emergency services by almost £200m a year.
Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts conducting the initial CMA investigation, said: “Our investigation showed that Motorola held all the cards when it came to pricing. With no other providers in the market, our fire, police, and ambulance services had no choice but to pay the rates set by Motorola, meaning they paid almost £200m a year more than they would have if the market was working well.
“This [ruling] ensures lower prices for these key services – and ultimately less cost for taxpayers – while allowing Motorola to invest in the network to ensure that quality and safety are maintained.”
Motorola had disagreed with the CMA’s findings, specifically that the price of the Airwave Network services was not limited by competition, and on the level of profit it made from the Airwave Network, and so challenged the price ceiling at the CAT.
